Sarah Shahi started her professional life as a cheerleader. It was a career move, not a lifestyle choice.

"I was singing in a production of 'Chicago' at my college, Southern Methodist University, and I wanted to be an actress," Shahi, 30, says. "But I didn't know how to do it in Texas. One of the dancers said, 'Why don't you try out for the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders because they have something called the show group and they need singers and they were on Saturday Night Live back in 1995.'"

So, she did.

"Cheerleading was my way in. It was one of the most rigorous audition processes ever. It definitely groomed me for Hollywood. I'd never been a cheerleader, but I'd danced. And I was captain of the volleyball team and the basketball team, and I ran track."

Shahi made the team for the Cowboys' 1999-2000 season. She then moved to Los Angeles and worked her way up from playing, guess what, a cheerleader on the series City Guys to top billing in the new USA Network drama Fairly Legal, which premiered Thursday (10 ET/PT). She plays a lawyer who becomes a mediator because she is fed up with the injustice of the justice system.

"My character Kate doesn't spit out a bunch of legal jargon," Shahi says. "She knows the law and how to manipulate it in her favor. She's not dependent on any male relationship. She's incredibly strong, strong-willed, opinionated and tough. She holds her own, but she's got flaws. She's not St. Kate."

Kate followed her father into the legal profession and joined his firm. But after his death, she decides she would rather help two parties settle their disputes outside of the legal process. Her boss is her young stepmother (Virginia Williams), with whom she has a strained relationship.

"Kate has a legitimate reason to dislike her stepmother, not just because she's blonde, beautiful and skinny," Shahi says. "She came in and took the place of Kate's mother. They're not BFFs or sisters by any means. Their relationship is justified and real. She's a great foil for Kate. There's no Luke Skywalker without Darth Vader."

Further complicating Kate's life is her ex-husband (Michael Trucco), an attorney who would like to continue their romantic relationship. But Kate wants to move on. Perhaps she will with the character played by Richard Dean Anderson, who pops up on the show occasionally.

In some ways Kate is an extension of Dani Reese, the LAPD cop Shahi played on Life for 32 episodes. "She's like Dani before the demons came in," Shahi says, referring to her character's relapse into alcohol abuse near the end of the series. "They wanted Dani to be a damaged character. There was a box I basically had to act within.

"In Fairly Legal, I'm allowed to do anything. Kate is a spontaneous, whimsical, free spirit kind of girl. I don't find that hard to play. Kate's very vocal about her opinions, and so am I."

Born Aahoo Jahansouz Shahi, Shahi grew up in Euless, a suburb of Fort Worth. Her father is descended from one of the first ruling shahs of Iran, making her Iranian royalty. However, Shahi jokes, "I have nothing to show for it." Her mother is Spanish.

In second grade, Shahi changed her name from Aahoo to Sarah. "I got tormented," she remembers. "Kids were calling me 'Yahoo,' 'Awahoo' and 'Achoo.' I wanted to be Vicky from (the TV series) Small Wonder, but my mom didn't like that name. We were listening to the radio. The song Sarah was on, and she said, 'What about Sarah?' I said, 'Fine. I'll take it. Anything other than Aahoo.'"

Like her character Kate, Shahi has father issues. "Kate's father was always someone she could go to, and now she doesn't have that," the actress says. "And there were things left unsaid.

"We share that. My father left when I was really young, but he's still living. There are things I wish I'd said that I didn't and I don't think I'll ever get the opportunity to say. He's battled addiction problems his entire life. I wish things were different. I wish there were a way my son could know him, know the good parts of him."

Shahi and her husband, actor Steve Howey, have an 18-month-old son, Wolf. "We met when I was a guest star on his show, Reba, seven years ago," she says. "I didn't want to have anything to do with him. But he was incredibly persistent."

Another inspiration in her life was director Robert Altman. "He came to Texas to film Dr. T and the Women, and I was an extra," Shahi says. " I had no idea who he was.

"For whatever reason he liked me. He saw a very grounded 19-year-old who was very ambitious, and he took me under his wing. He gave me his cell number and his office number and he said, 'I think you have what it takes. I think you should move to L.A., and if you ever need anything you can call me.'

"That was the catalyst for me. We traded phone calls for about four months because he was still in Texas, and then I realized who he was and I became way too intimidated."

Shahi eventually found guest-starring roles on such series as Boston Public, Alias, Dawson's Creek, Teachers and The Sopranos. She later spent two years on The L Word as free-spirited Latina DJ Carmen de la Pica Morales.

Next up is an independent film, East Fifth Bliss, with Michael C. Hall and Lucy Liu. "It's a coming-of-age story," Shahi says. "My character poses as a squatter—basically a vagabond—but she's an insanely rich girl. It's very quirky, very odd."

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